Of course, without the enhancement provided by the Incarnation of Lightning talent, Shinichi's daily training and the tempering of his neural reaction speed would inevitably become much slower. Still, at least his combat strength would remain largely intact.
Slower was slower, but progress was still progress in the end.
Naturally, it was not yet time to sacrifice it immediately, since he still had not obtained the first Hokage's cells.
Shinichi could make good use of this period to fully exploit the enhancement of Incarnation of Lightning, tempering his neural reaction speed with maximum efficiency. Once the talent disappears, he might never have such an opportunity again.
However, as he walked, one question after another surfaced in his mind.
After sacrificing a purple talent, would it disappear permanently, or would it only require accumulating cognition again?
If that sacrificed purple talent had already accumulated a great deal of recognition on the path toward Level 2, perhaps even being only one step away from breaking through, then after the sacrifice, would all that extra accumulation be completely reset and erased, or would it be converted according to the depth of recognition already accumulated into some kind of overflow, preserved in the form of a lower-level talent of the same type?
And after the Clone talent leveled up, what kind of changes would it bring?
Would it maintain the original limit of a single clone, or would it allow the creation of more clones?
Would the mechanism that originally allowed only one bloodline gene to be fused expand to two this time?
Would the limitation that originally allowed only one occupation and only 50% of the talent taking effect also be expanded?
Could the efficiency with which clones acquired external recognition be further improved? And so on…
These were all things Shinichi wanted to understand.
...
Time had quietly entered September.
It was the golden season of autumn, a time when grain should have been gathered into storage, and farmers should have put down their hoes to rest.
Yet in the Autumn of Konoha Year 47, the flames of war still raged throughout the Shinobi World. However, the wildfire-like momentum that had burned from the end of last year through the height of this summer had finally begun to weaken.
Not only had Konoha, Village Hidden in the Mist, and the Village Hidden in the Sand fallen into a tacit understanding and begun fighting increasingly unproductive battles, but even the Village Hidden in the Stones and Village Hidden in the Cloud, those longtime rivals of the north, had seen the intensity of their war noticeably decline.
It seemed both sides had finally begun to feel a hint of exhaustion after more than half a year of fierce attrition.
And amid this rare, brief break, there was only one week left until the official establishment of the Ninja Way Origins Research Society, also known as the Shinichi Society.
As for the specific date of its founding, several different suggestions had actually been raised during previous meetings.
Some proposed waiting until Tsunade returned to the village, since she was Shinichi's mentor and one of the three Sannin. It would be somewhat regrettable if she were absent for such an important occasion.
Others suggested finding a monk or shrine priest to calculate an auspicious date and secure good fortune.
Some proposed waiting until winter, when the war had completely stabilized, before organizing it at a more leisurely pace.
There were even those who said that since the society was also called the Shinichi Society, they might as well wait until next February and establish it on President Shinichi's birthday, which would be far more commemorative.
In response, Shinichi naturally and harshly criticized such sycophantic behavior and sternly warned that it should never happen again; then, incidentally, he proposed a date.
"September 10."
And so the date was settled just like that.
No one asked why it was that day, nor did anyone ask whether the date carried any special meaning.
Perhaps it did, or perhaps it did not.
He chose that day, so that day it was.
As time passed, more and more people within Konoha learned about the Ninja Way Origins Research Society, and discussions about it grew more heated with each passing day.
Whether on the streets, during tea breaks, or beside training grounds, conversations about it could be heard almost everywhere.
After all, Shinichi Higashino was no longer merely a genius ninja in Konoha; he was Konoha's pride.
A legendary hero who had repeatedly created miracles during this war.
The young God of War who shattered the strongest shield and crushed the Village Hidden in the Mist's army with the power of Wind and Lightning.
Naturally, everyone was curious about the society he intended to establish.
Upstream of the Naka River, inside the main hall of the Uchiha shrine.
Clan Head Fugaku Uchiha sat in the seat of honor. Several solemn-faced elders sat on either side of him.
It could be said that nearly all of the Uchiha Clan's upper leadership was present, with only one exception, Setsuna Uchiha.
Standing before them were more than a dozen Uchiha Clan members, all young faces, ranging from Chunin to Jonin.
Standing at the very end was a child no more than eight or nine years old. He was the shortest among them, yet his expression was calmer than that of many adults present; it was Shisui Uchiha!
Fugaku's gaze swept across the young clan members one by one before finally stopping on Shisui.
"Shisui, I can understand why the others want to join the Shinichi Society, but why do you want to go? Tell me."
The other clan members present had either worked with Shinichi before or had been former members of Shinichi Battalion, following Shinichi Higashino through life-and-death situations many times.
It was not strange that they wanted to join the Shinichi Society.
In fact, if Fugaku himself were in a different position, he would not mind securing a place within it, but he was the head of the Uchiha Clan.
That status destined him to be unable to casually become someone else's subordinate.
Unless Shinichi Higashino became Hokage in the future, he could only strongly support him under the pretext of repaying a life-saving favor and maintain close cooperation with him. He could not directly become his subordinate, not even by taking a nominal position such as vice president or board member.
It was understandable that he and others wanted to join, but Shisui?
He had never had any contact with Shinichi Higashino before, so why did he want to join?
Shisui Uchiha raised his head and said with utmost seriousness, "Because senior Shinichi once said that the essence of a ninja should not simply be a tool for killing. We ninjas originated from the ninja clan established by the Sage of Six Paths."
"The original purpose for which he bestowed chakra was to connect people's hearts and convey understanding, not to have future generations use chakra to slaughter one another for all eternity. I want to see with my own eyes what the path senior Shinichi spoke of actually looks like. I also want to do something, even if it's only a tiny and insignificant contribution."